Luke 15:3-7
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Thank You, Jesus! We have all been that “one sheep,” the one that didn’t even know it was lost until Christ called us His! As I was having my quiet time with the Lord this morning, the Holy Spirit showed me something beautiful that I had never thought of or saw before. He showed me that the lost sheep doesn’t have a name, that it’s not girl sheep or boy sheep, that the sheep’s color or background doesn’t have any relevance, and that its political views and social class aren’t even worth mentioning. The way Jesus chooses to describe these sheep is lost and found. He does not say the rich sheep or the pretty sheep or the powerful sheep but rather the lost and the found sheep.
One of the things this tells us is that no matter who we think we are or what we have, we are nothing without Him. Our worth is not tied up in this world but in the One who created it. Another thing it tells us is that Who’s we are (Jesus’) matters more than what we are (looks, money, etc.).
Look at the Lord’s beautiful response to finding one of these lost sheep: elation, rejoicing, excitement, and joy! If the Lord and all of Heaven get this pumped up about it, then so should we! We, as the body, gotta get as excited to see people get saved as Heaven is when He brings one back! And if we wanna see people get saved, we need to get out of the pews and into the streets and start sharing and living the Gospel! What a thought that is that Heaven rejoiced when the Lord saved you and me! Could we help Heaven rejoice today?
Romans 10:14,15 - How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
God bless! I love you all, but He loves you completely and perfectly! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
Luke 15:10
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Amen!! They are rejoicing over me and you!!! They are singing praises to God because another one of His children are coming home one day!!!!
Amy Grant has a song called Better than a Hallelujah, and I think there is a lot of truth in that song!!!! I love it because some of the most honest and life-changing prayers I have said were not eloquent, but they were honest and passionate prayers from my heart crying out to God for forgiveness, guidance, and strength!!!
We don’t have to be biblical scholars to talk to our Father; we just have to be honest and speak from the heart!! One of the best prayers I have ever heard was from a buddy in prison. He said, “ God, I don’t know how to do this, and I don’t know how this works, but I know You’re up there and You love me and Your Son died for me, so please help!!!”
I’m going to try to speak to God more from the heart and less from my brain!!
I love you all, and God bless!! As always, Glory to God for
ever and ever!!!!
Luke 15:10
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
As the body of Christ, do we live this verse? When that person who has hurt us more than anyone else comes to know Jesus, do we rejoice with the angels or hope to watch them fail? What if the same people whom Saul persecuted and killed were the first people to rejoice at his conversion and welcome Paul into Heaven? I believe that, my friends, is the right heart-posture of a follower of Christ!!!!
I’m not saying that people don’t hurt us or that it’s easy to forgive, but when we really stop and think about it, this life is fleeting, and Jesus didn’t just give His life for some of us but for all of us. Jesus gave His life for those who would accept Him as much as for the ones who would deny Him!
Imagine walking into a football stadium packed with 100,000 people, and as you walk out onto the field, the announcer comes over the loudspeaker and says, “Today, we celebrate!!! Stephen was dead in his sin, but today, He has repented and accepted Christ!!!!” and the entire stadium erupts. I believe that’s what happens in Heaven every time one of us turns to the Lord!!!!
I encourage you today, if you haven’t had your name blared on the loudspeaker of Heaven, then ask Jesus into your heart and watch the crowd go wild!!!! My name will never be in a history book, and that’s okay because it’s written in the only book that matters, the Lamb’s Book of Life!!! Is yours???
Be forgiven, Be found, Be filled with the Holy Spirit, and most importantly, surrender to Christ!!!
I love you all, God bless, and glory to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!!!!
Luke 15:17-19
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’”
Do you know the heart of the Father? These verses are part of the parable Jesus told about the prodigal son. This son chose to reject and dishonor his father; he chose money over family and wild living over love. Yet when he comes to his senses, he remembers how his father provides for those who are around him. He remembers that though they are hired hands, they still have enough to eat and decides to go and be one of them.
But the father doesn’t welcome him back as a hired servant but rather as a beloved son. He knew his father's heart before he set out for home, but do we? Do we know that the response the father has in this parable is the same response our Heavenly Father has to all His wayward sons and daughters that come home?
Imagine if the son in this story would have viewed his father as a harsh, unforgiving, unloving brute of a man; do we think he would have returned home, or stayed away and died in the filth he was living in? He would have stayed away, and so will we if we misjudge the Father's heart. We will stay buried in the pig pens, suffering in anguish and starving to death, all the while our Father has more than enough for us if we just come home.
So today, if you haven’t been home to see your Father in a long time, I would encourage you to go there like the son in this parable did. He willingly returned, humbling himself, repenting, and finding everything he needed and so much more! Thank you, Papa, for welcoming us home with open arms and a heart full of love!
Luke 15:20- “So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.”
Luke 15:24- “‘For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
God bless! I love you all, but His love never fades or spoils but redeems even the worst of us! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
Luke 15:28-30
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years, I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’”
Most of us know about the prodigal son that returned, but what about the one who stayed? This is his response to his brother coming home; it wasn’t one of rejoicing or elation, but rather it was selfish, self-centered, and truly exposed his heart for his brother and his father. We see that this brother stayed home with his father not out of love or reverence but out of self-serving obligation and to check a box. He didn’t stay home to be with the father relationally but rather because it was “the right thing to do” and to earn more favor and a reward from his father. This son's relationship with his father was all rules, and “look how much I do for you;” his heart wasn’t in it.
Is our relationship with our Heavenly Father the same? Are we going to church on Sundays to check a box, or to be in His Presence? Do we read our Bibles and pray, hoping God will give us everything we want, or because we desire everything He is? Do we tithe because it’s the right thing to do or because God has blessed us so richly that we want to give back out of obedience, reverence, and love? It’s more about the heart behind the actions than the actions without the heart.
In the story of the prodigal son, both sons are prodigals, but only one came back and went into the Father’s house. Which one will you and I be today?
Proverbs 21:2- People may be right in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their heart.
God bless! I love you all, but His love changed everything! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
Luke 15:30-32
But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
The parable of the prodigal son is a powerful one. Jesus uses it to teach us many things, but maybe the most important thing it teaches us about is the Father’s heart. His willingness and desire to forgive and be reconciled over His right to be angry and reject. In this part of the parable, we see that our God cares more about the soul than He does the stuff, while the ungrateful and prideful son cares more about the stuff than the Father or his brother.
You see, the Father did not dwell on the fact that the rebellious son had wasted so much time, money, and energy chasing sin but rather rejoiced in the fact that he finally came home. The heart of our God is abundantly beautiful, and this parable helps us see just that. But there is also a warning in it for those of us who walk with Christ, not to get so narrow-minded and self-righteous that we miss the big picture and the celebration of the dead being brought back to life.
It can be easy to view our faith through the lens of other's failures; to compare and contrast our walk with Christ to those around us. In our flesh, we can both envy their success and judge their failures; both, my friends, is far from acceptable and far from Christ. And this part of Scripture shows us just that, the Father didn’t make excuses for the wayward son, nor did He condone it, but what He did was receive the repentant son with open arms. We, too, must make the choice of how we will receive those around us who have fallen and come back to Christ. Will we be like our Heavenly Father with arms stretched wide, a smile on our faces, and love in our hearts ready to welcome them back, or will we be the obstinate, prideful, ungrateful child sitting in the corner and refusing to rejoice? Remember that in this parable, both sons are invited in, but only one accepts the invite!
Romans 12:3-5- For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
God bless! I love you all, but His love changed everything! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
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